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Never Have I Ever…Tried Turducken
What red-blooded carnivore’s dream wouldn’t be to feast on a chicken stuffed inside of a duck stuffed inside of a turkey? This complex entrée is quite the showstopper for any Thanksgiving meal and it gets five stars for difficulty, but it’s a tasty treat that will have any bird eater begging for more.
Many credit late Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme for inventing the Turducken in the 1970s or ’80s, and he, in fact, trademarked the name. However, engastration, the practice of stuffing and cooking one animal inside of another is an ancient concept that has usually suggested celebratory feasting. There are culinary reports of engastration going back to the Middle Ages, with the cockentrice, the head and torso of a pig stiched together with capon.
The heyday of engastration was the 19th Century, which hailed the rôti sans pareil (“the roast without equal”), which called for 17 birds to be stuffed into one another and roasted. Around the world this cooking method is popular. The Inuits of Greenland eat Kiviak, a seal stuffed with 400 birds, which is then fermented and eaten raw. And should you ever attend a Bedouin wedding, be sure to partake in the camel that is stuffed with a lamb, chickens, fish and eggs.
But back to the Turducken. You can find lots of recipes online. Ask your butcher to debone your birds for you unless you’re a pro. Some recipes get fancy with different stuffings and fillings, and some are simpler, but they all share a common theme of the meat that is tender through and through and a unique flavor profile from the mix of proteins and feeds.
If you’re not quite up for the task, there are some wonderful places, particularly down South that will ship your Turducken ready for the oven. All you need to make is the gravy.
A cross-section view of a turducken: A deboned chicken is stuffed inside of a deboned duck, then placed inside a turkey. Stuffing is often placed between each layer of meat.
